Australia coach Robbie Deans will hand Super 14 player-of-the-year Quade Cooper his first international start at flyhalf for Saturday’s Test against Fiji in Canberra.

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The Wallabies regular stand-off Matt Giteau switches to inside centre, the position Cooper operated from during last November’s European tour.

Giteau and Cooper’s switch is one of a number of positional changes made by Deans, who is experimenting with his line-up ahead of two matches against England and one against Ireland.

Fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper switches to the wing in order to accommodate Kurtley Beale, and Digby Ioane also moves to the flank to allow NSW Waratah Rob Horne to make his debut at outside centre.

“This is the group we’ve opted to go with first up, a number of the combinations are familiar but the selection template is always a living document,” Deans said on Tuesday.

Cooper’s inclusion comes six months after he was arrested for an alleged break-in at the Surfers Paradise resort, which led to him being ordered by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) to undergo counselling before being considered for reselection. [ID:nSGE5BH053]

The New Zealand-born back has been in sensational form since and his Queensland Red’s side narrowly missed out on a place in the Super 14 semi-finals for the first time since 2001.

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There is no place in the side for NSW Waratahs flyhalf Berrick Barnes but Deans said players not selected for the Fiji match would be given a chance on Tuesday, when the Australian Barbarians host England in a non-test match.

There are two other players making their debuts in the team alongside Horne with the ACT Brumbies pair of hooker Huia Edmonds and tighthead prop Salesi Ma’afu named in the front row.

The selection of Ma’afu throws up the likely prospect of brothers competing against each other for only the fourth time at international level with Campese Ma’afu in contention to start for Fiji.

Deans said Australia, captained by flanker Rocky Elsom, would not be taking Fiji lightly with the Islanders boosted by the availability of some of their European-based players.

“The individual talent the Fijian players possess is well known,” Deans said. “On their day, they are capable of anything, as has been shown historically, where teams who have under-estimated their capabilities have been burnt.”

Team:

15-Kurtley Beale, 14-Digby Ioane, 13-Rob Horne, 12-Matt Giteau, 11-Adam Ashley-Cooper, 10-Quade Cooper, 9-Luke Burgess, 8-Richard Brown, 7-David Pocock, 6-Rocky Elsom (captain), 5-Nathan Sharpe, 4-Dean Mumm, 3-Salesi Ma’afu, 2-Huia Edmonds, 1-Ben Alexander.

Substitutes: 16-Saia Faingaa, 17-Pekahou Cowan, 18-Mark Chisholm, 19-Matt Hodgson, 20-Josh Valentine, 21-Drew Mitchell, 22-James O’Connor.

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